| Through the childhood-to-middle-age reminiscences of Rab,The Price of a Fish Supper depicts the boom-and-bust history of the Scottish fishing industry and reflects the gradual and spiritual loss of the contemporary Scottish people.Catherine Czerkawska forms the play on the basis of Rab’s interior monologue,thereby constructing an enclosed structure where only his inner voice can be heard,which is innovative in play-writing.Subjectivity is the main feature in Rab’s conscious flow,leaving sufficient space for readers’ interpretation.Therefore,psychoanalysis is applied where Rab’s monologue is deemed as the dream in order to analyze dream symbols and the collective unconsciousness reflected in his reminiscence of Scotland’s past.Based on Samuel Coleridge’s(1772-1834)The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,the play builds its text on the three symbols,i.e.,the sea,fish,and boat.According to the traditional interpretation of the poem,religious and ecological criticism are crucial in analyzing the text.In Rab’s flow of consciousness,this symbolic system reveals the metaphor of life and expiation sought by collective unconsciousness,whereof the deterioration and return of the significance of the three symbols unveil that nature and the human spirit are interdependent.Under the context of Christian hamartiology,this work,through the triple symbolic structure,shows the binary opposition of sin and redemption,explores the internal relationship between the natural environment and the loss and the redemption of the Scottish people,and points out the Nation’s predicament of existence and the way of salvation through the voice of an individual.Mainly based on Carl Jung’s theory of collective unconsciousness and with the proper reference to Coleridge’s philosophy on nature and Christian theology,this thesis tries to explore the relationships between men and myths,men and nature,as well as men and God and to interpret the play from several perspectives,thereby delving into the motif of sin and redemption.This thesis consists of three main chapters.With the help of Carl Jung’s theory of archetype,it will analyze the tripartite symbols of the sea,fish,and boat in The Price of A Fish Supper and its contextual works,The Rime of an Ancient Mariner,and the Bible.Chapter One first expounds on the symbolic connotation of the sea under the context of myths and theology.In the play,the sea changes in its content due to the rampant development of industry and commerce and the overemphasis on human reason;men have ceased to revere nature and myths.Thus,this chapter focuses on the conflict between the symbol of the sea and the deterioration of the marine environment.As a consequence of the damaged marine environment,the second chapter firstly analyzes the mythological and biblical image of the fish,the creature ubiquitously living in the sea,and reveals the profound connection between the fish and Scots’ collective unconsciousness.In the play,the Calvinist idea of predestination dominates the fate of each character;therefore,the absence of the fishing industry,upon which the older generation of mariners relied,will render them face tragic endings.This chapter concentrates on the association between the fish and salvation.Chapter Three firstly explores the archetypal connotation of the boat,the only manmade image by which mariners fish on the sea.Originally as a tool for fishing,it displays sophisticated symbolic contents in The Rime of an Ancient Mariner and the Bible.Yet,in the play,the marching of industry and military forces is a tool for wars and capital-reaping.This chapter focuses on the connection between the boat and the atonement.This thesis takes psychoanalysis as its major critical approach and uses religious and ecological criticism to analyze national psychology and the ecological concern in the text by the deconstruction and understanding of this symbolic system. |
PDF Full Text Request